Wednesday, September 24, 2008

[britain] atmospheric beauty



Rob of The Broadsheet Rag and Cherie both made comments which, if you read between the lines, amount to: "Stop moaning about Britain - surely there's something good there."

Both the last posts show that that has been on my mind too. Yes, there are wonderful things to Britain. For a start, the friendliness despite the system, the acceptance, the sense of humour and not forgetting the landscape, let alone the life routines.

Some foreigner recently mentioned a population of 60 million in these small islands and surmised that they were evenly spread out, as in Los Angeles, which of course is not how it is. Instead, there is almost a corral of houses crammed together in one place, then miles of beautiful open countryside [see the pics above] and then another village.

Personally, I love that and the expression "green and pleasant land" is very, very relevant. Couple that with roads which are almost leafy laneways and there are the makings of a country in which a person could retire quite happily, were it not for the system. If that land is deeply embedded in the soul, then nothing is going to drag you away or if it does, there will always be the hankering to return.

So please don't get me wrong about BT, the trains and so on. Despite them, Britain is still a magical place and we're just coming into autumn now, my second favourite season.

6 comments:

  1. There most certainly is a lot to be said for the UK and its constituent parts.

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  2. I will really miss not being around to enjoy the British autumn!! It is back to typhoon season Manila for me...

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  3. Things I miss when not in Blighty tend to begin with B. E.g. Beer. Bacon. BPunting on the BCam, Onion Bharjis, Baltis and something that may seem odd - Brickwork.

    Britain has beautiful bricks and many architects have played with bricks down the ages with exellent results. I'll grant you Bath or Cotswold Stonework is nice but I find the redbrick former mills of Lancashire to be more impressive in many ways.

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  4. Yes, it's a nice place to visit but I wouldn't want to live there again.

    Actually I am sure I would like it in many ways (all those historical places) but not in others (I hate bureaucracy and unhelpful people).

    The first few months are always the worst James as memory adjusts to reality.

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  5. James -- never stop moaning. And I heartily agree -- when you get away from the system Britain is a wonderful place.

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  6. Yes carry on moaning, I do it all the time especially when I am with my TU colleagues. We all have a good moan and then a good laugh, it does the world of good.

    I too am very fond of Autumn, I think it is my favourite month :-)

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